Displaying Enhanced Content Information on a Remote Control Unit

ABSTRACT

A remote control unit for a video receiver may be utilized to display information about enhanced content available in conjunction with a video broadcast. The information displayed on the remote control unit display may provide information about available enhanced content, advertising, or even the status of connected devices, such as telephones, computer systems, digital video disk players, and video cassette recorders. By transmitting the data from the video receiver to the remote control unit, the information is available to the user without interrupting the display on the user&#39;s video receiver.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/969,156,filed on Oct. 20, 2004, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/498,421, filed on Feb. 4, 2000, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to video receiving systems andparticularly to remote control units for video receiving systems.

Conventional television receivers may be controlled by a remote controlunit. The remote control unit may communicate with the televisionreceiver by a wired or wireless connection. For example, radio frequencyor infrared wireless connections may be utilized.

The user may also wish to remotely control a computer system thatoperates in conjunction with a conventional television receiver.Computer systems, sometimes called set-top computer systems, may be ofrelatively small size, in some embodiments, and may be positioned on topof television receiver. The remote control unit may control the set-topcomputer system which in turn controls the associated televisionreceiver.

Ancillary information, such as program subtitles, emergency messages,closed caption messages and program guide information may be transmittedalong with regular television content. More recently, other types ofancillary information that may be sent with the television contentincludes enhancement data such as web pages, multi-media information orother digital data files. Ancillary information may be sent in thevertical blanking interval (VBI) of an analog television broadcastsignal or may sent with digital television content over a digitaltransmission transport medium.

Various standards exist to provide for transmission of ancillaryinformation along with television content. One standard is the AdvancedTelevision Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) Specification, Draft 1.1r26 datedFeb. 2, 1999. The ATVEF Specification provides for transmission ofenhancement data along with television content in both analog anddigital systems, such as cable systems, satellite systems, terrestrialsystems and so forth.

When enhancement data is available for viewing in conjunction with thebroadcast television signal, the viewer usually is advised of itsavailability. This is conventionally done by an overlay icon which isprovided on the viewing screen of the television receiver. However, someviewers prefer to view the broadcast content without additional overlayinformation. Thus, these viewers may disable the overlay announcementsabout enhancement data that accompany the television broadcast. As aresult, these users are disabled from taking advantage of this enhanceddata.

Thus, there is a need for a way to advise users of the availability ofenhancement data without interfering with the presentation of thedisplayed video.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one aspect, a method includes providing enhancedcontent with video information to a video receiver. Information aboutthe enhanced content is displayed on a display for a remote control unitfor the video receiver.

Other aspects are set forth in the accompanying detailed description andclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic depiction of one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram for a software in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block depiction of a remote control unit in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a processor-based system in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A video receiver system 10, shown in FIG. 1, may include aprocessor-based system 12 such as a set-top computer system coupled to avideo receiver 15, such as a television receiver, having a display 17.The system 12 may be coupled to one or more sources of video informationincluding a cable television source 112 c, a satellite televisionantenna 112 b or a terrestrial television antenna 112 a.

Also coupled to the system 12 is a remote control unit 18. The remotecontrol unit 18 may be coupled to the system 12 using a wired orwireless connection. In one embodiment of the present invention, abi-directional wireless connection may be implemented using eitherinfrared or radio frequency signals. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the system 12 may send radio frequency signals to the remotecontrol unit 18 and may receive signals from the remote control unit 18through either infrared or radio frequency communication protocols.

The remote control unit 18 may include a display 20 which in oneembodiment of the present invention may be implemented by a liquidcrystal display. The display 20 may provide information about availablevideo as indicated at 23 or about the video actually being viewed as twoexamples. In addition, enhancement data may be displayed on the display20 as indicated at 22. In the illustrated case, the data 22 is anadvertisement.

The advertisement may provide information to enable the user toimmediately purchase an offered item. The user may operate the remotecontrol unit 18 to provide a signal to the system 12 that communicateswith a service provider indicating the user's selection. For example, inone embodiment of the present invention, the display 20 may be a touchscreen display. When the user touches the screen proximate to thedisplayed data 22, the corresponding product may be purchased.Alternatively, a display screen may be displayed which allows the userto enter more information about the user and the requested item. Inaddition, the remote control unit 18 may include a plurality of controlbuttons 24 to allow the user to implement selections for controlling thedisplay of video information on the screens 20 and 17.

The incoming video information may include television content andenhancement data. The enhancement data may include graphics such as webpages, multimedia information or other digital files, presentationlayouts, and synchronization information.

The reception of ancillary information may be signified to the user bydisplaying an icon indicating that enhanced information accompanies theprogramming currently displayed. This alerts the user to the possibilitythat additional information is available. In some cases, the icon mayconstitute a link which may be clicked on or selected to automaticallybring the enhanced content into focus on the display.

Enhancement data, according to the ATVEF Specification, may includeannouncements each having the following components: an ATVEFannouncement, a resource, and a trigger. The three components may betransmitted using Internet Protocol (IP) multicast to the receivers. AnIP multicast standard is described in request for comment (RFC) 1301,entitled “Multicast Transport Protocol”. (RFCs are available atwww.ietf.org/rfc.html.)

Generally, an ATVEF announcement indicates that enhancement data isbeing transmitted. The resource includes one or more files that containthe enhancement data, and the trigger synchronizes the enhancement datawith the television transmission. An announcement may describe thelocation of both the resource stream and the trigger stream. For eachvideo channel, one or more enhancements may be offered as choicespresented to the user, who can select which of the enhancements, if any,to view. The ATVEF Specification may utilize a one-way transmissionprotocol (the unidirectional hypertext transfer protocol or UHTTP,described in the ATVEF Specification) to deliver resource data.

The announcements, resources and triggers associated with an videochannel may be delivered at about the same time as, and with thetransmission of, the video content on that channel. Conventionally, foreach enhancement, the resource stream may be delivered along with theannouncement, with the resource stream stored locally in the receiver.If the viewer so desires, the enhancement data can be retrieved fromlocal storage.

To provide for greater flexibility and/or to alleviate bandwidthconcerns of the transport medium, some embodiments of the presentinvention transmit enhancement data associated with television channelsover a link that is separate from the transport medium used to transmitthe television or video content. Alternatively, the link may be part ofthe same delivery mechanism as the television content but not associatedwith any particular channel.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the user maybe given information about the ancillary information that may have beentransported with the television content. For example, in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention, a chevron-shaped indicator 25may be displayed on the display 20 to indicate the transmission ofancillary information in general. An additional indicator may beprovided to give information about the particular type of contentprovided as ancillary information, in one embodiment of the presentinvention.

The indicator 25 may provide information about the ancillaryinformation, such as enhancement data, that has been provided with thetelevision content. This gives the user greater information about theancillary information enabling the user to make an informed decisionabout whether or not to access the ancillary information. In some cases,the indicator 25 may be a hyperlink that allows the user to select theindicator 25 to jump immediately to the ancillary information.

Software 118 resident on the system 12 begins by receiving anannouncement stream as indicated in block 140 in FIG. 2. Theannouncement stream is parsed to locate an icon locater, as indicated inblock 142.

The icon locator may take a variety of forms. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, the icon locator may be a uniform resource locator(URL). The URL may point to an Internet web address containinginformation about a suitable icon that may be displayed to provide theuser with information about the content contained within the ancillaryinformation. Alternatively, the URL may point to a location in thetransmitted ancillary information that may be utilized to access andthen display a suitable icon. Alternatively, a local identifier (LID)may be provided. Particularly, where the information is not necessarilyavailable on an “on demand” basis, a local identifier may be utilized toprovide a name for a resource such as a content-identifier icon. The useof a local identifier supports cross-references within the content tothe resource. The local identifier may be useful in creating hyperlinksor embedding one piece of content within another. The local identifierenables content creators to assign unique identifiers to each resourcerelative to a given name space.

Thus, the local identifier may be utilized to access the indicator 25information repeatedly. Once the indicator 25 has been stored on thesystem 12 and is identified through the local identifier, it can becalled up repeatedly and used over and over again. For example, in oneembodiment of the present invention, the system 12 may be loaded with aplurality of content identifying icon images before those images areactually needed. The icon code for one of those icons may be sent withan announcement stream that identifies the icon already on the receiver.The local identifier or URL may be transmitted as part of the triggers.Triggers are real time events delivered for enhanced televisionsprograms. The receiver may set its own policy for allowing users toenable or disable enhanced television content and triggers may beutilized as a signal to notify users of an enhanced contentavailability. Triggers generally include a URL and may optionally alsoinclude a human readable name, an expiration date and script. Theexpiration date in connection with triggers utilized to announce thearrival of a particular type of content may provide for a limitedduration of the display of the icon.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, theannouncement stream may include script that causes a transparent overlayto be produced over the displayed image on the display 22 of the remotecontrol unit 18. The transparent overlay may include one or more iconsor identifiers 25 to identify the content that accompanies the enhancedtelevision content.

After the icon locator has been parsed, the icon information may beaccessed either from the local system or from the Internet as twoexamples, as indicated at block 144, in FIG. 2. One or more icons arethen displayed on the remote control unit.

In this way, after the video information has been received and theenhancement data has been parsed from the video content, the iconlocator may be further parsed and transmitted to the remote control unit18. Upon receipt by the remote control unit 18, the icon may bedisplayed. The icon may, in one embodiment of the present invention, bean icon which allows the user to select for viewing enhanced content. Inanother embodiment of the present invention, the icon may provideadvertising information.

Once the icon has been received as indicated in diamond 146 in FIG. 2,it may then be transmitted to the remote control unit 18 for display onthe screen 22, as indicated in block 148. In some embodiments of thepresent invention, the user can select those items which may be parsedfrom the stream, identified, and transmitted for display on the screen22. For example, announcements that include advertising information mayinclude a code that allows them to be parsed and sent or not sent to thedisplay 22. The information about general ancillary informationavailable with the television program may similarly be coded forseparate parsing and selective transmission to the remote control unit18.

In addition, information about the status of peripherals may bedisplayed on the remote control unit 18.

For example, the status of video playing devices such as digital videodisk players 14, video cassette recorders 14 and compact disk players 20may be displayed on the remote control unit display 22. Thus, statusinformation about the current status of those device is availablethrough the remote control unit 18 without disturbing the display of theongoing video content on the display 17.

In addition, the remote control unit 18 may provide information aboutincoming e-mail or incoming telephone calls including calleridentification information.

Referring to FIG. 3, the RCU 18 may include a display 22 which in oneembodiment of the invention may be a liquid crystal display. Acontroller 26 may be coupled to a memory 39 and may be responsible forcontrolling the display 22 as well as an RF transceiver 30. Thecontroller 26 may be processor-based and may be a microcontroller or amicroprocessor, as examples. The RF transceiver 30 may send radiofrequency voice information to the system 12. The transceiver 30, in oneembodiment of the invention, uses an internal antenna 29 that may bebuilt into the RCU 18. An IR transceiver 28 may be used to communicatewith the system 12 using a bidirectional infrared protocol such as theIrDA-C protocol in one embodiment of the invention. The IR transmitter35 may be used to communicate with legacy devices using a unidirectionalprotocol in one embodiment of the invention.

The controller 26 may also control the keypad 24 for allowing user inputcommands. A microphone 36 and speaker 38 enable additional functions. Aclock 37 and battery power supply 41 with a recharger 43 may also beprovided.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an example of a system for providing thecapabilities described previously may involve either a computer, atelevision receiver, a set-top computer system or another appliance. Theillustrated system 12 includes a processor 100 coupled to an acceleratedgraphics port (AGP) chipset 102. AGP is described in detail in theAccelerated Graphics Port Interface Specification, revision 2.0,published in 1998 by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.

The AGP chipset 102 may in turn be coupled to system memory 104 and agraphics accelerator 106. The graphics accelerator 106 may be coupled toa TV receiver 15.

The chipset 102 may also coupled a bus 108 which in turn may be coupledto a TV tuner/capture card 110. The tuner/capture card 110 may becoupled to a television input 112. The input 112 may, for example be aconventional TV antenna, a satellite antenna, a cable connection, orother television inputs. The card 110 may receive television signals inone video format and may convert them into a format used by the system12.

The bus 108 may also be coupled to another bridge 114 which in turncouples a hard disk drive 116. The hard disk drive 116 may store thesoftware 118.

The bridge 114 may be coupled to a bus 115 in turn coupled to a SerialInput/Output (SIO) device 122 and a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)124. The SIO device 122 may interface to a mouse 126 and a keyboard 128,and IR interface 130 and RF interface 132 that couple the system 12 tothe RCU 18. The infrared interface 130 may, for example, be inaccordance with the Infrared Data Association protocols such as, forexample, the Serial Infrared Physical Layer Link Specification, version1.2, dated Nov. 30, 1997. The RF interface 132 may be coupled to anantenna for RF communications with the RCU 18. The bus 115 may alsocoupled a network interface which may include a voice modem that may becoupled to a telephone line.

The graphical user interfaces described herein are visualrepresentations of memory states. The graphical user interfacesdisplayed on the display 22 may be stored in a memory such as one ormore of the memories 104 or 116.

While the present invention has been described with respect to a limitednumber of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerousmodifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appendedclaims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within thetrue spirit and scope of this present invention.

1. A method comprising: receiving video information and at least twoenhancements; analyzing said enhancements to determine whether saidenhancements are advertising or non-advertising content; if anenhancement is advertising content, automatically displaying theadvertising content on a first of at least two displays; and if anenhancement is non-advertising content, automatically displaying saidnon-advertising content on a second of two displays.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 including recognizing code indicative of an advertising contentand automatically displaying the advertising content on the firstdisplay.
 3. The method of claim 2 including automatically displaying theadvertising content on a remote control display.
 4. The method of claim3 including displaying information on said selected display to enablethe user to purchase an item advertised in said advertising content. 5.The method of claim 2 including parsing an enhancement from the videoinformation and parsing the code from said enhancement.
 6. A methodcomprising: receiving video information and at least two enhancements,said video information including content selectively displayable oneither of two displays, one of said enhancements being an advertisementand the other enhancement not being an advertisement, said advertisingenhancement further including a code indicative that the enhancement isan advertisement, said code further designating one of said two displaysfor said advertisement; recognizing from said code that the enhancementis an advertisement and recognizing the code designating which of thetwo displays to display the advertisement on; and based on said code,automatically displaying the advertising enhancement on the displayindicated by the code.
 7. The method of claim 6 including automaticallydisplaying the advertisement on a remote control display.
 8. The methodof claim 7 including always displaying advertisements on said remotecontrol.